


Hold Your Voice Modulation Hardware

by decadent_mousse



Series: Do Robots Dream Of Electric Kaiju? [1]
Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Fluff, M/M, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-15
Updated: 2014-05-15
Packaged: 2018-01-24 20:52:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1616705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/decadent_mousse/pseuds/decadent_mousse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hermann gets an upgrade.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hold Your Voice Modulation Hardware

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bravinto](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bravinto/gifts).



> Another spontaneous robot AU drabble (is there any other kind? XD)! It's unbeta-ed, so if you spot any glaring errors, let me know! <3

Hermann was feeling more and more uneasy about this as things progressed. It wasn’t that he didn’t _want_ this, he just… wasn’t certain if it was right. If his master caught them doing what they were doing, surely they would both be scrapped. Or, at the very least, _Hermann_ would be scrapped. Newt would probably just be shipped back home to his masters, who would probably be a lot more forgiving.

“Dude, calm down. It’s hard to get this done when your processor’s running so hot. What are you so worried about?”

Hermann couldn’t message Newt directly with the installation in progress, so he picked up the pen and notepad he’d brought along specifically because of this and scribbled furiously. _“What if my master catches us?”_ He held up the message up for Newt to see.

“We’re not gonna get caught.”

Hermann sighed exasperatedly, or would have if he had the necessary software installed. Instead, he just made a vaguely indignant-sounding buzzing noise.

“Look, if you’re having second thoughts–“

Hermann shook his head and quickly wrote again. _“I’m not.”_

“Okay. Good. It’s going to be okay, y’know? You said it yourself, you do more of your repairs than your master does, right? Nobody’s going to know you have it installed unless –well, unless you _tell_ them. Which, I’d just like to say for the record that I don’t think people finding out about it would be the huge disaster you seem to think it would be. This is the twenty-second century, Hermann. People aren’t going to chase you down with torches and pitchforks for improving yourself.”

_“Torches and pitchforks would be an extremely ineffective way of rendering me inoperational.”_

Newt snorted, which was an impressive feat for someone who didn’t have anything even remotely resembling a human nasal passage. “It’s a figure of speech, dude. You really need to get out more.”

They stood in relative silence for awhile as Newt tinkered, the only sound the nervous whirring of Hermann’s ventilation fans, until finally…

“I think that’s it!” Newt exclaimed. “Try saying something.”

Hermann stared at him for a long moment before replying in a dry, accented tone. “Something.”

“Very funny,” Newt retorted, but he was vibrating excitedly, wheels bouncing. “Interesting voice choice. It’s not what I would have picked.”

“Yes, well, it’s not _your_ voice, it’s… mine.” Hermann blinked, the reality of the situation sinking in. “It’s mine.”

Newt beamed at him. “Yeah! Yeah, it is! How does it feel, dude? Is it running smoothly?”

“I believe so.”                                          

“Well,” Newt said, “if you run into any glitches, let me know. I’d, uh, be happy to debug it for you.”

“T-thank you.” Was the software glitching already? Maybe it still needed a bit of fine tuning. Maybe–

A sudden crash interrupted Hermann’s thought processes. Apparently, once Newt had started vibrating excitedly, he hadn’t _stopped_ vibrating, and had proceeded to migrate across the relatively small expanse of the shed and bumped into a shelf, hard. The shelf – which was a feeble, termite-infested thing – broke, and the contents fell, bouncing off of Newt’s head with a loud series of clanks and thunks.

So much for discretion.

**Author's Note:**

> Hermann's an older model of robot and didn't come with any voice hardware or software originally. Before Newt smuggled him some stuff and helped him install it, he had to communicate wirelessly with other robots or, in the case of communicating with humans, a series beeping and/or buzzing noises and really animated (and long-suffering) facial expressions.
> 
> He meets Newt in secret, because he doesn't think his master would approve of him having a social life. :P


End file.
